Lightning Season is here again
 

This time of year is when we start to see a lot of lightning strikes here in the Villages. Yesterday there was a bad one near Lake Miona. In this case the homeowners were not home. The sad part about this event is it could have been avoided or mitigated by installing a lightning protection system.

If this event motivates you to get a lightning protection system call A1 Lightning Protection since right now, they and Triangle are the only licensed and LPI certified installers working in the Villages. Remember, last year we had over 6 homes destroyed by lightning and A1 and Triangle were booked for over a year.

Also, the article doesn't talk about the many homes around this strike who had their electrical systems "taken-out" from the induced surge caused by the strike so now is the time to make sure you have your surge protection system in order. For this you can reach out to your favorite electrician or Lenhart or Pikes Electric. Also, don't forget to proctect the cable comming into your home since a large percentage of induced surges come into your home from the cable line. Lenhart has a solution for this as well. If you have fiber and no cable then you don't have to worry about this part of the surge protection.

I'm sure many of you have seen the Villages Lightning Study Group presentation on Lightning and Surge Protection and if not, look out for the next presentaion if you want more information.

Go to Villages News.com and search for lightning to see the article.

That supressor only costs about $100. Is your regular price even more than $525?

cost and quality of job can go together, especially when labor and trucks and parts, etc are involved. Don't base everything on an Amazon single piece part. I have had several installers turn down installing amazon chinese products due to the responsibility of failure falling back on them as a professional.

I have a 60 year old house to bring up to code in garage, bathrooms, basement, and add ceiling lighting to 6 rooms, in order to sell. (you don't need to retire'splain that i can sell the house as is)

* 1 guy and a truck asked $3,000 with a gmail account with no company id, could barely spell, minimum detail, just activity. Chatted me up on golf
* another guy and a truck asked $3,000 with a gmail account with a company id, could spell, a little bit better quote, through not detailed. chatted me up on previous shared work experiences
* 1 guy with a shop, multiple permanent employees, company truck, insurance, with all code required parts listed, plus quoted additional cable/electrical paths outside the house. . email quote twice as detailed, never chatted me up on non work, added some ideas for me to be aware of for the goals of the entire project. asked $9,000. had his own email address, not gmail.

I am going with the $9,000 guy based upon 1) his detail on how he would solve certain constraints, 2) his contributions unsolicited about details of which I was unaware for the project, 3) his discussion about his cost structure as compared with the 1 guy and a truck. . 4) professionalism.

its not always about the lowest cost, especially with a sizable project which has code/ future inspection / resale price dependent upon the quality of the job. And basing a project cost upon a single piece amazon price is knowing the cost of something, but not the value of anything.

good luck with the rock bottom cost strategy

In addition, particularly for new homebuyers, it is crucial to consider the potential risk of metal CSST gas lines being installed in the attic.

Manufacturers of the gas lines recommend the installation of lightening mitigation systems to mitigate the lightening strike risks associated with attic CSST gas lines in Florida.

Risk Of Lightning-Based Fires With CSST Gas Lines

LOL, do you know for a fact that home did not have lightning protection. Kind of hard to tell? What if the lightning hits the grass next to your home and catches it on fire that way?

Not that hard to tell at all. An LPS system would have a rod at each peak of the roof. There are at least three peaks visible in the included pictures with no rods present. Sure, one or more might have been disturbed by the fire but all three?

If lightning hits the grass next to my house and causes my house to burn I will go out and buy a lottery ticket. The odds that lightning would bypass my house and my neighbor's, ignite the grass, cause the green, wet shrubs to burn, and finally catch the soffit are incredibly low. There are probably better odds that a piece of a satellite that was super-heated by reentry into the atmosphere just happened to hit the house during a thunderstorm.

Adding It's been reported around 5-6 homes hit a year here. None with lightening protection.

Several have been hit at the iron gas line where it enters the attic at a garage corner.

So effectively, metal gas lines become your lightening "protection."

So so glad we have a metal roof.

I hope your metal roof is properly grounded.

The odds of your home getting hit by lightning are very low but if it does happen, it will be a life changing event. For the $3,000ish cost for a lightning protection system for most homes here in the Villages, it's a small price to pay for prevention and piece of mind. Just skip a cruise!

The odds of your home getting an induced surge from a nearby lightning strike are actually very high here in the Villages so spending money on whole house surge protection is well worth the cost. Most induced surge events are never reported but it happens a lot to varying degrees. I'll guarantee you that many homes around that strike in Winiford got their electrical systems impacted and some devices destroyed by the induced surge from that strike.

I believe home insurance covers damage with deductible.

Skip a cruise!? How dare you! :p

I wired our whole previous house 15 years ago. I have a pretty good idea of what's involved.

Maybe...

It's the inconvenience and time to process the claim and replace any of your: major appliances, TV's, garage door openers, fans, HVAC, tankless water heater, SPA/Pool eqpt., etc.

Handful of house lightning strikes / fires in TV last year..........................say, 5 out of 75,000 or .0000667.

:posting:

...and at $3,000 a pop that's $225,000,000

makes you wonder why only two companies are installing?

and why building code in Florida doesn't insist on all new builds being protected during construction

At five per year that’s 15,000 years (growing each year by 600 years for new construction).

While you’re adding requirements for safety features that will cost everyone but benefit few, don’t leave out sprinkler systems, generator backups, and possibly hurricane-proof safe-rooms.

Much higher probability of having a kitchen fire.......

"The kitchen is the most common area for home fires to start, with an estimated 44% of all residential fires originating there. This is due to cooking being the leading cause of house fires. While this high percentage suggests a significant risk, the overall chances of a house fire in any room are still relatively low, with less than 1% of homes experiencing a fire annually. "

If my house get struck it go up like bundle of bottle rockets with cheap yellow wrapped gas pipes 2 1/2 foot off roof. IMO those pipes should have NOT been routed in attic off floor of attic and especially not cheap corrugated yellow code hose.

I’m very lucky I could easily be in that less than 1%….:shrug:

Actually, they’d be installing new things. Like when the insurance company replaced my roof, which they themselves determined needed replacement - not me what do I know about roofs? I got a brand new equivalent replacement. Now they’re happy and they are still my insurance company.

Chances of you walking outside and being struck by lightning is more likely than your house being struck with trees that are higher etc. Up north my neighbor, who is a musician, and wears metal nose and ear piercings got stuck by lightning twice the same day while walking home. Just a small strike but the piercings burned him. Since then he decided to get tattoos to look “cool” instead.

...and to cover up the burn scars - I hope he had lightning bolt tattoos!

At times we had 3-4 houses at same time in different villages since 2004.

Once Lighting hit ground 5 houses from us. Jacobs said it traveled through the ground killing our irrigation box. Not sure how rods would have worked for that. Can’t make neighbors spend $3,000 for an in case lighting strike.

Have hard enough time getting $20 to replace CPR pads. :1rotfl::1rotfl:

This is what many don't understand. From a high-level, when you have a storm and ice crystals, etc, are moving around in the clouds over your home, they are developing a strong negative charge. Conversly, you home, trees, and you if you are outside develop a positive charge. When the charge between the cloud system over you home and any of the things I mentioned is strong enough, there will be a connection, i.e. lightning strike. This is why homes are struck eventhough there were tall trees, a tower, etc,. near by. All lighting rods do is create the best charge so if there is a connection it will hit the rod and be transferred safely to ground vs hitting anywhere else on your home or you if you are outside. And yes when a connection is made the current is incredibly high but the duration is extreemly short which enables the Air Terminal (lightning rod) and it's connecting cables and ground rods to pass the charge safely to ground. If you understand these details of the strike you can see you won't get an incredibly large bolt that will over-power the lightning protection system. Lightning is not some large power source randomly striking the ground like a star wars laser system. There needs to be a recepter for the attraction and connection to occur. Also want to mention, in some cases a lightning rod can "bleed-off" charges over your home to prevent the connection or strike. I've personally seen this occur.

As far as that person's irrigation system getting burned out via a strike down the street, correct, a lightning protection system on your roof would have not prevented that. You need a good whole house surge protection system to protect the devices in your home from these events. And don't forget if you have cable, you need a surge protector on the feed coming into your home as well since a high percentage of induced surges come in from that feed. If you have fiber you don't need to worry about that.

At the end of the day, although getting hit by lightning is a very low probability, if and when it does happen it will be a life changing event for you and your close neighbor and you will be regreting not spending the $3,000 ish one time cost to protect your home and your family give we live in the lightning capital of the USA.

Good question, the cost would be significantly lower if done during construction. And the cables could be under the roof.

It's like insurance but preventative.

LPS is required for hospitals and schools.

The Villages installs LPS on all critical infrastructure.

Below are example lightening strikes from a very small storm yesterday.

The Weather Club often have free LPS seminars this time of year. Check with them.

The cost to install a lightning protection system is relatively inexpensive compared to the value of your home and the cost to repair or replace it if it ever gets struck and burns down. Especially if you are a snow bird.

From what we have seen, if you are home when your house gets struck and you call the fire department ASAP, there is a good chance they will be able to save your home. But if you are away, then you are relying on your neighbors to notice the fire and call the fire department and by then it's usually too late and the fire most likely will burn down your home.

At the fire at Winiford recently, it was interesting in the Villages News article, they specifically said the fire department got there and prevented the huge fire from spreading to adjacent homes. This meant by the time they got there the house was lost and they focused on collateral damage. That's my interpretation from that comment in the article.

So, If you want to take your chances, remember these people below felt the same and and lost the gamble. Every home here in the Villages should have Lightning and surge protection given we live in the lightning capital of the USA. If your home gets hit by lightning, it will be a life changing event for you and your family.

That's a rather hard sell.

Every home in the US would benefit from a LPS if that home happened to be struck by lightning, but what are the real odds of that? Those five pictures looked pretty bad, were they all from this year? All from the last 12 months? If you zoomed out a few times in google maps would you even be able to find those five rooftops?

I think of an LPS like a seatbelt, motorcycle helmet, travel insurance, or extended warranty: I have never benefited from any of these but I would kick myself if I needed one and didn't have it.

The odds are that a particular home will never be hit by lightning
The odds of a home being hit by lightning in Florida are a bit higher than most of the rest of the country
Lightning *does* hit homes and mine could be the next to be hit
My insurance will/should cover the loss
My insurance has a deductible which might be higher than the cost of an LPS
While the loss will/should be covered, there is a cost for the aggravation and inconvenience of fixing and replacing
I don't have an LPS now but am strongly considering one after I have my roof replaced

The key word is SELL.

Someone on commission??

:popcorn::popcorn:

So, you are correct, every home in the country doesn't need to have a lightning protection system since the chances are very, very low but here in central Florida the chances are actually significantly higher which is why considering getting a LPS system is more important.

Those pictures were of the homes destroyed last year here in the Villages. Normally we see about one or two strikes per year here in the Villages while last year we had six homes destroyed. There were other strikes but these were the ones with a significant fire.

This is a must read from the Villages News. It demonstrates the unfortunate reality of a catastrophic fire in your home. In this case a lightning strike that occurred here in the Villages last year. This is why for a couple of thousand dollars, you may want to consider installing a lightning protection system which could prevent and or mitigate a situation like the one below from happening since we live in the lightning capital of the USA here in Florida. Our hearts go out to this couple since the strike occurred only months after they purchased their home and it looks like its going to be 2 years before they are able to return.

>>>>
Insurance headaches add to woes after lightning strike in The Villages

Insurance headaches have added to a couple’s woes after a lightning strike nearly a year ago at their home in The Villages.

A bolt of lightning punched a hole in the roof and ignited a blaze this past July at the home of Charles and Linda Formica at 2269 Foggy Brook Loop in the Village of St. Charles.


Their misfortune was compounded when their insurance company came up short when they explored rebuilding their home.


Charles Formica testified at a deed compliance hearing Monday at the District Office at Brownwood about the challenges they have faced since the fire.

“We immediately contacted our insurance company and started a claim,” Formica said.


Lightning ignited a fire in July 2024 at this home at 2269 Foggy Brook Loop in the Village of St. Charles.
Over the next few months, he went back and forth with the insurance company, which had tried to declare the home was not a total loss.

“We were standing in our house looking at the sky,” Formica said.


Eventually, the insurance company agreed the home met the definition of a total loss. However, then there was a certain amount of “depreciation” debated with the insurer.


The couple paid $775,000 for their home in 2024, just a few short months before the fire. When the insurance company finally agreed to cut a check, it was $234,000 short of the builder’s quote to reconstruct a new home on the fire-ravaged site.


The Formicas are scheduled to take their reconstruction plan before the Architectural Review Committee on June 11. They hope that the rebuild can begin immediately after they secure the blessing of the ARC.

Their builder has told them that the project will take 12 months. Community Standards had recommended giving the couple six months to see the project to fruition.

“Obviously, it’s been a struggle,” said Special Master Terry Neal. “I know you probably would like to get back into your house.”

She granted the Formicas nine months for the rebuild. She pointed out that if the couple needs more time, they can appeal to the Community Development District 8 Board of Supervisors. They could also ask the board to waive any fines that might be imposed if they exceed the nine-month limit.

Two CDD 8 supervisors, Wayne Anderson and Duane Johnson, were in the audience at the deed compliance hearing.

In neighboring Community Development District 9, supervisors have struggled in recent years with fire-ravaged homes where reconstruction was painfully slow to begin. Neighbors regularly spoke out at CDD 9 meetings to express their fear and frustration with living near a burned-out carcass of a home.
<<<<

The issue is not lightning, flood, space heater, stove fire, electric car charging, etc., the issue is..........people do not read their insurance policies until it's too late.

Very sad indeed.

It typically takes 2-3 years here to process insurance, get permits, order materials and construct to rebuild after a fire.

It's a shame there isn't a builder who knows how to build a home in less than three months who could step in to help in community disasters.

That's true but I can tell you from first hand experience talking to many in a similar situation say the insurance companies just don't want to pay so they "nickle and dime" you until you submit.

Again, wrong insurance company &/or not submitted correctly.

I don't mean to disagree with you and I'm sure there are exceptions but being an engineer on the Villages Lightning Study group, we interview many of these cases and in all cases that we have followed, everyone spoke about a significant effort dealing with the insurance company and at least a year until they were able to go back and live in their home. Definetly a life changing experience. In the case above, they had an unusually difficult time and you have to remember, even if you are able to go through the insurance process quickly, there aren't builders waiting around to quickly start re-building your home.

No problem with disagreeing on ToTV.

If documentation is completed correctly, stats from NAIC show claims are paid timely.....the issues of delays with funding rests with the policyholders. I assume the information is still out there some where.

No surprise it might take a year to get back in the house. Bids & removal of old house and even concrete. Bids, approvals & construction of new. Contractors are not sitting around and able to start a project at the drop of the hat.

In other insurance threads I'm a preacher of reading policies, and recommend looking at Chubb Insurance. Couple Chubb examples: I had a "smaller" claim for $75k. Did paperwork and had a direct deposit within 72 hours with an email stating, if you need more, you have a surprise, let us know. A neighbor had a complete lightning loss. Before the neighbor completed the paperwork, Chubb sent them a check for $25k for temp living expenses. & then very positive process for the claim itself.

:beer3: